In Sicko, controversial filmmaker Michael Moore takes a look at the American healthcare system. On the surface, this seems a much less divisive topic than those of his previous documentaries, most notably Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911. Halfway in, however, the film arrives at Moore's primary aim, which is to introduce his viewers to the concept of socialized healthcare and, ultimately, socialized services across the board -- concepts creeping into the public debate as well as current Presidential campaigns.

Sicko begins with a rather long series of vignettes highlighting Americans who, for various reasons, have no insurance and thus cannot afford healthcare: a middle-aged couple forced to sell their home and move into their daughter's computer room; a young woman who pretends to be married to a Canadian in order to access Canada's system; a blue collar worker who accidentally sawed off two of his fingertips, but can only afford to have one sewn back on; and so on. Many of the stories are truly tragic; some are even heartbreaking. However, the movie never spends long enough on any one of the interviewees to offer background or context to their individual situations.

It is also during this first half of the film that we see who Moore perceives as the real enemies to healthcare in the United States: managed care organizations (primarily), pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. Congress, the American Medical Association, and any other organization that has ever profited -- or condoned profitability -- in the healthcare industry. Industry whistleblowers offer chilling details of day-to-day "business" at the country's largest managed care organizations. Combined with the sad personal stories of the healthcare system's victims, these insider confessions help create the most effective parts of Moore's film. The pathos he employs is, at times, heavy-handed, but still moving in many cases; and the much-maligned insurance industry is not going to gain any fans -- even among Moore's enemies.

The film's lack of alternative viewpoints, however, oversimplifies a complex industry. And, frustratingly, Moore never explores other problems in our current healthcare system. His view is that private managed care is the only problem.

After a breezy section on Hillary Clinton and her attempts at establishing universal healthcare in the United States as a fix to our ailing system -- during which he disturbingly calls the former First Lady "sexy" -- Moore decides to show what a "healthy" healthcare system looks like. He travels first to our neighbor to the north, then across the pond to England and France, and ultimately to communist-controlled Cuba. All of these countries offer free, government-administered healthcare to their citizens. Predictably, every person Moore comes into contact with -- patients, doctors, and administrators -- are delighted with their respective health systems. Brief visits at Canadian clinics, chats with well-off British physicians, and interviews with smiling Parisians all seem to suggest that American criticisms of these countries' health systems are not only off-base but pure fiction. In fact, there are many documented problems with all of the above systems. But in Sicko, you're in Moore's world, and in Moore's world clever editing, creative graphics, whimsical music, and witty narratives are the same as the truth.

On his tour of healthcare utopias, Moore lingers in France for some time. It is here where he tries to sell his viewers on the general concept of socialism. He enthusiastically details the 35-hour workweeks and extended vacations of French workers. He even visits new mothers who have government employees doing laundry and cooking dinners for them. Throughout this section of the movie he adds montages of happy French couples taking walks and lounging in public parks.

The film concludes with Moore's much-publicized trip to Cuba where he takes a group of 9/11 workers to receive free healthcare. This is where viewers really need to suspend reality. To view this section of the movie with full faith, you need to believe that Cuban handlers would not go out of their way to present an idyllic Cuba to an American filmmaker with a camera crew.

The DVD's many special features continue on the movie's theme of feel-good socialism. In one of these features, Moore promotes House Bill HR676, which would enact universal healthcare in the United States. Most of the other features are extended or deleted interviews. Highlights include a conversation on the topic of "freedom" in Cuba with Dr. Aleida Guevara, Che Guevara's daughter, and a primer on Marxism with a former British Labour Party politician. Moore also revisits his French fetish with yet another look at France's social system.

Moore is a master propagandist. And, in that light, Sicko is probably his most effective product yet. It doesn't contain the confrontational interviews that his previous films did. And the subject matter is topical, but not taboo.

Regardless of whether you love or hate Michael Moore (there's really no in-between), you won't be disappointed by Sicko. It will give you what you expect to see.
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